Reason: Hit & Run: Jacob Sullum: New Clemency Policy Could Free Hundreds or Thousands of Drug War Prisoners: A Better Approach in Dealing With Narcotics

Attorney General Eric Holder Speech on Criminal Justice Reform 

Reason: Hit & Run: Jacob Sullum: New Clemency Policy Could Free Hundreds or Thousands of Drug War Prisoners

President Barack Obama can end the failed War on Drugs in America and draft a new policy for dealing with narcotics in this country.  He wouldn't need approval from Congress.

The policy itself is called clemency. President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole are all on the record as saying that the War on Drugs is not working and we need a new approach for dealing with non-violent drug offenders.  We can cut their sentences, get them into halfway houses and reduce the population in our overcrowded prisons.

The Attorney General, under the direction of the President, has already decided that they aren't going after people for possession of marijuana who aren't intending to sell it. They could also say "we aren't going for long sentences and sanctions for people who are narcotics addicts or who are dealing small amounts of the harder illegal narcotics or people who are in possession of these narcotics without the intent to sell".

The result would be fewer non-violent drug war inmates going to prison and looking at 3-5 for simple possession of small amounts of these narcotics. They could be in halfway houses or doing community service or in drug rehab at their own expense instead.  This frees up a lot of prison cells for people who actually need to be there for the good of society, terrorists, gang bangers, murderers, rapists ,etc., criminals who pose a real threat to society.